Late last month, on March 31st, Wizards of the Coast delivered the latest much-needed Banned and Restricted announcement. As expected, this ban wave hit Modern in a big way, with Underworld Breach getting banned. On top of that meta-changing ban, Wizards also shook up Pauper and Legacy with a series of bans and unbans.
Overall, these changes have been positively received by MTG players as they helped to make those metagames more interesting. For better or worse, these three formats were the affected by this latest ban wave, but some players wished for more. Initially, many MTG players weren’t happy about this lack of bans, Standard players especially. Now, however, it seems this may have been the correct decision.
A Botched Banning?
Before the March 31st ban announcement, it seemed that most MTG players were expecting that Standard would be affected. Not only was the format seemingly in need of bans, but it looked like Wizards leaked one. Ahead of the announcement, an MTG Arena bug briefly claimed that Monstrous Rage was a banned card. This seemingly confirmed that its banning was imminent.
Despite this bug, when March 31st rolled around, many MTG players were shocked to see “No changes” in Standard. Not only was Monstrous Rage missing, but Up the Beanstalk and This Town Ain’t Big Enough weren’t hit either. While Wizards did mention one of these cards, their explanation stated, “Standard is flourishing.”
At the time, this explanation rubbed a lot of players the wrong way. While Standard wasn’t being dominated by a singular strong deck, it was far from fantastically diverse. Essentially, if you weren’t playing Mono Red, Esper Bounce, or Zur Domain, you wouldn’t stand a chance in tournaments. Obviously, this isn’t as bad as what Nadu or Breach did to Modern, but it’s still not exactly fun.
When it came to requesting MTG bans for Standard, fun was definitely the name of the game. No one deck was singularly dominating the meta, but it was, nonetheless, very stale. Even the decks that did exist in the format didn’t feel particularly exciting to play. Each deck had its own gameplay, and they’re all so ruthlessly efficient that games would end up feeling same-y.
It’s for this reason that many MTG players were requesting Standard bans in order to shake up the format. Sadly, Wizards wasn’t ever going to do this, not with Tarkir: Dragonstorm and Final Fantasy on the horizon.
The Greater Good
As much as many MTG players weren’t happy initially, concerns died down once Takir: Dragonstorm was released. With new exciting cards to experiment with, thoughts of what could have been were quickly pushed out. Now that Tarkir: Dragonstorm has been out for a little while, however, it seems some doubt is starting to creep back in.
Recently, MercuryRusing took to Reddit to bemoan the current state of Standard and the recent lack of bans. Claiming there are only really two viable decks in the format, it’s easy to see how bans would have fixed this problem. According to other MTG players in the post’s comments, however, this isn’t even a problem at all.
While Domain Overlords and Mono Red are still strong, these decks are hardly the only two capable of topping tournaments. Bounce decks are still running amok, for instance, but there’s plenty of other diversity, too. As Refugee_man showcased when highlighting recent tournament results, there’s actually a lot of diversity at the top.
On top of the usual offenders, Jeskai, Orzhov, and Azorius control decks have all been doing well recently. There’s also the Omniscience Combo deck, which consistently performs well. Recently, we’ve even seen meta-breaking decks in the form of Reanimator and Selesnya Aggro doing well.
Admittedly, while these archetypes can do well at tournaments, they’re very much fighting against the big three. The Standard metagame might not be stale post-bans, but the competitive playground still has three very surly bouncers. With this in mind, it may only be a matter of time before calls for bans begin once more.
Standard Bans Coming Soon™?
To nip this in the bud right away, it’s far too early to start predicting Standard bans. Even if we can see problem cards now, there’s no telling that they’ll need banning on June 30th, 2025. Between now and then, Final Fantasy will be announced and released, which has the possibility to shake up the Standard metagame.
Even if Final Fantasy turns out to be a competitive dud, the post-Tarkir: Dragonstorm meta is still being decided. There’s a non-zero chance that, over time, Monstrous Rage and Up the Beanstalk will fall out of favor somewhat. Admittedly, the chances of this happening don’t seem high, but never say never.
That being said, if Standard bans are going to happen, June 30th will be the time and place. As the ban announcement before Standard rotation (on July 25th/29th), this is Wizards’ opportunity to shake things up. Of course, Standard rotation will do this naturally, but sometimes things need a little extra push.
With rotation, Dominaria United, The Brothers’ War, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, March of the Machine, and March of the Machine: The Aftermath will all rotate out. This will undoubtedly shift the Standard meta as cards like Sunfall, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Leyline Binding, and Knight-Errant of Eos will all disappear. While this will shake things up, decks like Mono Red and Esper Pixie will be basically unaffected. Out of the top decks, only Domain Overlord is going to be hit.
Since these cards are almost entirely comprised of post-rotation sets, Wizards may elect to ban some cards to further shake things up. If this is to happen, Monstrous Rage, Up the Beanstalk, and This Town Ain’t Big Enough could all be on the chopping block. Whether or not any of these cards will actually be banned, however, remains to be seen.
